Mother Nature gets the best of USMTS

By Todd Staley

(May 9, 1999) - Mother Nature has a way of deciding when and if you are going to race. That has seemed to be the case so far this year.

The first race of the year was scheduled for April 10th at the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City, IA. This race had to be rescheduled due to the rain that was received the few nights prior to the race. The race was rescheduled for Sunday April 18th to go along with the race at Missouri’s I-35 Speedway in Cameron, MO. The race in Cameron was scheduled to be a two-day race (Friday-Saturday, April 16-17) paying $3,000 to win. Well, the race on Friday had to be rescheduled for Saturday at noon. Hoping to get two races in on Saturday as the sun was suppose to come out, instead it was raining Saturday morning and the race had to be rescheduled for the next weekend on Sunday with Adrian, MO and Salina, OK on Friday and Saturday.

We headed back to Webster City on Sunday to get the race in at the Hamilton County Speedway. We ended up pitting all the modifieds at the top of the hill, which seemed to work out good. It was hard to believe, but what a great day Sunday turned out to be. The races ran a little later than what we planned, but the racing was top notch.

The next weekend we were planning on a three race weekend - Friday, April 23rd at Adrian, MO; Saturday at Salina, OK; and Sunday in Cameron, MO. Hard to believe, but the races at Adrian were postponed on Thursday due to the rain received that night. So Saturday it was off to Salina, OK for the Oklahoma Spring Fling. A good field of cars were on hand for the racing action. Well, two Factory Stock heat races were complete before the rain set in again. The race had to be rescheduled for Saturday May 22nd. The next day we were off to Cameron, MO for the second time. It was a cold, cloudy and blustery day, looking like it could rain at any time.

This race was scheduled to be a two-day show in one day. The first day show got in before the rain set in. The A-main qualifier was run. The top ten cars are locked in for the A-main, which has been rescheduled for Sunday, May 23rd to tie in with the Salina, OK race.

The race at Salina, OK will be a complete redraw as no heat races were run. This will be the way USMTS will run all races in the case of rain.

The race at Cameron, MO will run two B-mains on Sunday. There are ten cars qualified for each of these races and will qualify six cars out of each B. Any new cars will start at the back of the B’s as long as they enter the day of the race. The race in Godfrey, IL and Calvert City, KY have been rescheduled for June 24-25 in Godfrey and Saturday, June 26 in KY.

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